KissUART

A serial port utility (for Windows) based on K.I.S.S. principle.

This can be built into a command line tool, an Erlang port, or a DLL as needed.

Build

Batch file using GCC is provided. It's would be simple to use another compiler instead.

• A stand alone executable: build.bat EXE

• An Erlang port: build.bat PORT

• A DLL: build.bat DLL

Usage

A stand alone executable

UART port options:
         -port      <integer>                     (mandatory)
         -baud      <integer>
         -databits  <integer>
         -stopbits  <integer>
         -parity    none | even | odd | mark | space
Common options:
         -help/-?                                 show this
         -hex       use hex display
         -timestamp display time stamp for output default: OFF
         -async_io  use win32 async IO operations default: OFF
         -cr        cr | lf | crlf | lfcr         default: cr
         -input     string | char

Note: string: based on 'gets' (default),
              can use UP/DOWN to access input history
      char  : based on 'getch' (low level)

A Tip on ^Z

When string mode (default) is used, ^Z could save ^Z into the output buffer, and another is needed to write it to COM port.

An Erlang port

This Erlang port uses the exactly the same command line options as the stand alone executable, except that some common options are obviously not avaliable.

Example: uart2tcp

socat is powerful Linux tool, which can let other programs access an uart port just like a TCP port. On Windows, it is much easier to build our own wheel than to search a similar tool. See uart2tcp.erl.

A DLL

Only 5 APIs are exported by this DLL. Below is Pascal (Delphi/Lazarus) code for reference.

type

  TUartObj = Pointer;
  TCommCloseReason = (ccShutdown, ccError);
  TOnCommRead = procedure (Param: Pointer; const P: PByte; const L: Integer);
  TOnCommClose = procedure (Param: Pointer; const Reason: TCommCloseReason);

function UartOpen(Uart: TUartObj;
                  const PortNumber: Integer;
                  const Baud: Integer;
                  const Parity: PChar;
                  const DataBits: Integer;
                  const StopBits: Integer;
                  OnCommRead: TOnCommRead;
                  CommReadParam: Pointer;
                  OnCommClose: TOnCommClose;
                  CommCloseParam: Pointer;
                  AsyncIO: Boolean): TUartObj; stdcall;
                  external 'uart.dll' name 'uart_open';

procedure UartSend(Uart: TUartObj;
                   const Buf: PByte;
                   const L: Integer); stdcall; external 'uart.dll' name 'uart_send';

procedure UartShutdown(Uart: TUartObj); stdcall; external 'uart.dll' name 'uart_shutdown';

function GetUartObjSize: Integer; stdcall; external 'uart.dll' name 'get_uart_obj_size';

function UartConfig(Uart: TUartObj;
                    const Baud: Integer;
                    const Parity: PChar;
                    const DataBits: Integer;
                    const StopBits: Integer): Integer; stdcall; external 'uart.dll' name 'uart_config';